Thursday, 21 November 2013

USA Anaheim Holiday Day #8 - Disneyland

There are two parks here in Anaheim - Disneyland is the original park and is larger than California Adventure. We couldn't finish Disneyland in one day - but fortunately the kids had seen everything because we covered what they had missed when they went on Saturday with my friend and her daughter whilst we were at Blizzcon.
Christmas has taken over here at the park and there was a Christmas theme everywhere, in the decorations, the rides, the parades and even the fireworks!

We started in Tomorrowland first, which had all the Star Wars and space things (Buzz Lightyear) and went on the Star Tour, Astro Orbiter, Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters, Autopia and Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage.

We also went to Innoventions which had a show which we missed TWICE, and we lined up to see Thor props and ended up seeing Thor as well, and Ironman props.
We then headed to Fantasyland (the entrance of which is Sleeping Beauty's Castle) which had a lot of the original 1955 rides, most of which my youngest child could ride. We rode Snow White's Scary Adventures, Peter Pan's Flight, Pinocchio's Daring Journey, Mr Toad's Wild Ride, King Arthur Carousel, Mad Tea Party and Alice in Wonderland.

Our last stop was Mickey's Toontown, which seems more Disney to me with the cartoon-like houses. Here was the only rollercoaster for little kids (Gadget's Go coaster) so we did that.

We backtracked to go to It's a Small World - one of the most famous original rides, and also where the parade was going to start. It was decorated in Christmas stuff, and the ride itself showcased all the different cultures doing their Christmas or similar celebration.

When we finished the ride we found a spot to see the parade and watched as the street lit up for the parade at dusk.

It looked pretty amazing at night. The parade was also Christmas themed - my son slept through it again! When we were done we caught the Disneyland Railroad back to the main street where we caught the parade again LOL.

And we stayed for the fireworks. Main street was packed and the fireworks were lovely with the accompanying music - something you can't really appreciate from our hotel room even though we can see the fireworks there. Sleeping Beauty's castle looked gorgeous after the fireworks were done.

I had great fun at Disneyland too, though I was a little disappointed we didn't see more. But, I think after 4 days of theme parks, I've had enough of theme parks - no San Diego for me on Thursday! I think we shall have to take it easy and just go outlet shopping. So of the two parks, which did I enjoy more? It was hard to choose, but I think that California Adventure had a more impressive parade and the World of Colour was amazing. I also liked that we could finish that park in one day and the kids got to see almost everything (and Cars Land!). I didn't think I would like Disneyland but I think the whole experience was truly unforgettable and I would highly recommed it to anyone - even if you don't like Disney (gosh, I love Disney though, so maybe I'm biased), it's very hard not to get wrapped up in the excitement. Where else can you walk around wearing Mickey ears and it's totally normal?